Reflections, Holidays and Goals

I see everything in the economy right now either skyrocketing or slumping. Those are the buzz words in the news and on the radio.
Gas is climbing. Food prices are climbing. Jobs and the housing market are in a slump. People are having to cut back on luxuries... and in some cases necessities.

We are in a turbulent time, the American Economy is having a problem standing on their own two feet. (History rumors it is always more difficult in an election year)

My etsy sales have slowed to nothing. I am not crying a river as it is not my sole income. I wish for steady sales and I actively do what I can to promote myself, but sometimes it will just be slow. That is all there is to it.
In this time I have taken a little creating break... and thought a lot about how I want to proceed for the later half of the year.

As a self reflection and pre-emptive to what may be a scary next few months or even years financially for a lot of people, I have made some decisions on my lifestyle and life. In no particular order....

1. I will keep creating when the mood hits me. I enjoy it, it relieves stress. I will keep doing what I am doing on Etsy.com and listing and creating. I will participate in as many shows as I can handle this fall because I love planning and hocking my wares. :)
2. I will start back up on my exercise routine, to help handle stress in rough times as well as just be healthier which is a good goal to have any time.
3. I will cut back on spending and budget more frugally. I will use my supplies that I have at home so there are no impulse purchases I may need "in a while" once I finish my current project. I have heard people refer to it as a "Homebody" but I have to tell you we have more fun at Game Night and at our Community Pool than we do going out most of the time anymore.
4. Eat out less. This also will help number 2 and number 3. Significantly.

I will be out of town from the 2nd through the 7th of July. I feel now is as good a time as any to list my goals for Etsy for July.
As I mentioned my sales goal was woefully short from being met. I intend to keep the goal at 40 sales total (which is 11 more) in the month of July. I am still shooting for 100 by the end of the year.
Also - I am at 400 Hearts on etsy.... being that sales and hearts I dont have much control over - most of you know its a "wish list" I would like to reach 450 hearts by the end of July.
I feel I have a lot of inventory right now in my store (over 60 items) so right now I havent set any inventory goals. I will keep listing throughout the month as I see fit.
But at least things are in writing and I have them in my head right now.

Hope you all have a productive and generous July! Welcome to Summer!

Mrs. Lovett for Halloween!

For those of you that have seen Sweeney Todd... you recognize this character.

Kyle and I decided we would be going as Mrs Lovett and Sweeney Todd for Halloween. I will be making my own costume and parts of his.

The movie was rather disturbing but brilliantly done. If you haven't seen it yet and don't mind macabre lives and a lot of blood, then do so!

I will be making the skirt and bodice seperately and modifying a corset I already have that is old and in need of a new life.

Yes, this is taking a break from the "Crafting" but I will be taking photos of the pieces and parts as they are completed.
I ordered patterns for Kyles Vest for Mr. Todd and patterns for the bodice and skirt of the dress for Mrs. Lovett.

This shall be fun!

Sleepy, groggy bloggy

I wholeheartedly apologize to people who regularly read my blog.
I want you all to know I didnt mean to neglect it as much as I have so I intend to kiss and makeup.

Smooches to the computer screen.
I have lost my muse for the ornaments. They are being put away so as not to force the artwork that needs to flow unhindered....I just would rather Hand stitch right now. So I will be working on the stuffed/plush ornaments now, instead of painting the alphabet plaques and ornaments. I just... well I just lost my muse. Most of you will understand and "get it" :)

A lot has gone on with my day job so to assauge the feelings of readers, bloggers, strangers and friends... I shall post some fun photos.





Here is me with my first etsy Soap purchase being a dork. It started the addiction.

The store is Martinsville Emporium - they have the best Nag Champa soap... EVER!
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=19203

Visit them and give them a whirl!



For those of you that havent seen me in person at my booth - I DO make bunting (pennants) or Prayer Flags if you prefer to call them that. I enjoy how they look and have sold them on occasion. I dont list them on etsy as I am stubborn and get the right photos I want to display them correctly, so they only come out for shows in person.





This makes me laugh everytime I see it. I love fall and totally get this way when it starts getting chilly and festive. :)





Well thats the damage I can do right now. Hopefully I will have something more interesting to talk about soon and things calm down with the Day job!
Thanks to all of you for understanding.

Phase Two of WIP Ornaments

Here is the second phase of the ornament WIP. I have a quick white wash layer over the decoupaged vintage papers.
They will get another coat to even out the white wash then the holes will be drilled slightly larger and cleaner.

Then the painting begins!

I havent been in the mood to do this project surprisingly. I was so looking forward to painting something.
Maybe it is because I havent gotten to the FUN part yet. :)


Here is the workspace with everything out drying. Do you see the large rectangle plaques with a layer of white wash on them drying on the table?
Those will be the alphabet plaques.


So not much was accomplished this weekend. I credit it to switching gears for me since I had been sewing and hand stitching, that I think I will warm up to it soon.

When in doubt - Get Messy! UPDATED!

Well last night I did get photos taken and had to color correct the bejeebees out of them because it was so dreary and dark outside. The thunderstorm was several hours long and a force to be reckoned with. Beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Being from Kansas I have a fascination with storms as you never knew when the sky would turn green and then the slight scent of ozone would appear....you would feel it in your bones that something was going to happen.
In florida it isnt that poetic, to me. It just dumps a torrential downpour and then gets hot and humid instead of just hot. Hehe.


I have been working on some ornament designs (And I finally took some photos last night) As you can see in my previous posts I just finished redecorating the sunroom, so now that I am using glue and vintage paper and wood I have it strung out all over the kitchen table. Heh. Mr. Red Marionette probably wonders why I dont keep it in my space, but its so pristine and clean right now I didnt want to mess it up, so I mess up the dining room. :) Makes sense to me!




Here is the rundown of what I am doing - I have shapes of wood I am decopage-ing vintage papers (mostly sheet music, cookbooks, poetry books) with a layer of tissue paper also decopaged to create a film of distortion so you cannot exactly read the text, but it is noise in the background. Then I will give it a good layer of white wash as a glaze for a more uniform and clean look - still maintaining the background noise. Then I shall be painting some of them in traditional holiday images, holly, snowflakes, etc. Of course I shall do them up right with some of them having embellishments, gold dry brushing, various additions to make them unique, simple and stunning. And then some will be my characters with holiday themes. (Dont worry - I will still be sewing the felt holiday character ornaments. They are also under works, but I needed a break from sewing)
I will be doing the same process with the alphabet plaques though they will have a raised letter and a painted coordinated character. O for Owl - S for Snake - A for Ape - B for Bear - T for Turtle. That sort of thing.
Yes, I think ill take some photos soon for you all to see. :) I love feedback!





On another note: I reached my heart goal for the month of June already! Wee! its the....11th.. wow. Now if only I could reach my sales goal! Which would be 14 more sales this month!

Its raining, Its pouring! The old man is snoring!

I was GOING to take photos today.
Alas, mother nature has different intentions for me.
The dopplar radar over my house right now is purple. Not red... PURPLE. It cant get any heavier rain unless its a tropical storm. hehehe.
Sooo the stuff I was going to list tonight (some new boo-boo bags and finger puppet sets) may have to wait a smidge. At least until the florida rain subsides.

If it stops before 6pm it will be sunny and sweltering.
BUT, at least it will be sunny!
Have a good evening everyone!

Revamped Craft Area

I had talked about redecorating the craft room for a while now, it is finally done.
Voila!

The Desk backs up to french doors that lead into the bedroom - they are always closed so its not a big loss to have that covered. (We actually have a real door for the bedroom, dont worry.)

The Desk, Chair, Chair Mat and curtains all came from IKEA. Which made this a very modestly priced redecorating project.



There is a door leading to the backyard that we hardly use (due to the door being very difficult to open and shut) so for a more cohesive look I decided to hang the curtains across it and the window next to it.
I put up the "tie backs" near the sides of the curtains so if we did decide to go out that door, we could pull the curtain back out of the way and secure it.
Which is also handy for when I take photos, I need the sunlight and being that it is a Sunroom in Florida, there is plenty of it!








The closet is a horrid mess - most of the time one door is open so I can access the fabric and other supplies I have in it, but for the photo you all dont get to see that! :)

Instead of spending 30 dollars on a coat rack to hang finished bags, I had a pedestal light that I never use, which is doing the trick well, I think.

Also what you cant see is this room is off of the main living space. So you can see from the kitchen through the dining room across the living room into this room. Instead of a glaring white space, we now have a lovely lush little cove.

You love me? You really love me!

HOW cool! I woke up to an email that let me know I had been featured in a Treasury on Etsy.com

Awesome!

Again the love and creativity that on a daily basis is shoved into the little world of etsy never ceases to amaze me.

I appreciate everyones support and kind words and critiques!

Timothy the Green Owl is very happy to be showcased here as well!

Forward Thinking and Stockings

I know a lot of corporate companies like using the term Forward thinking. Its a trendier version of thinking ahead as far as I am concerned. Anticipating things and situations that come your way in the near and semi-near future.
Last night when I was about to lay down for bed I had a deluge of ideas. They all flooded at once so I grabbed the journal I keep beside the bed for such instances and scribbled out all of the ideas I had.
I had been trying to steer my thoughts on how to make my products into more fall/winter/holiday-esque items and I had some great ideas (or so I think) This will be my first holiday season with Red Marionette so I hope I can make a few things geared towards the Holiday Decor crowd.
Onward and upward - here were the ideas...

- Making the finger puppets creatures into ornaments. Stitching a ribbon loop on the top of their head and stuffing them slightly with polyfil.

- Make halloween related gift card holders like Bats and Pumpkins. Already on the list was Bat Stuffed Animals. Throw some black Cats in there too...

- Neck Scarves. Again in the bright colors just the scarf that buttons (maybe velcro) around the neck like a turtle neck, only in fun festive and funky colors and patterns. Maybe even some with animals on them.

- Stockings. Make brightly colored fun, funky and unique stockings, some with creatures appliqued on them, some without. This was my favorite idea that I had because I LOVE the idea of having stockings on a hearth for the holidays. I love the classic look of a hanging stocking bursting with toys over a crackling fire and a twinkly tree off to the side. -sigh- I am a sucker for the classic idea of Christmas. So, I think that stockings might be a good idea.
** I had another epiphany!***
Maybe a stocking with a little pocket in the front. Make a smaller stuffie (of your choice) to reside in the front pocket of the stocking as your "Stocking Protector" so little gnomes/elves/Tooth fairies or greedy little kitchen rats cant make off with your goods in the middle of the night?

Id love any feedback anyone is willing to offer on any of these ideas. :)

I think I will take some time off in June and July from the craft show circuit while it is beastly hot so I can create more, finish redecorating the studio space and then hit the craft shows hard in the fall and winter. :)

Craft Emergency in St. Petersburg, FL

Well here it is! Ta DA!
The Red Marionette craft booth for Craft Emergency in St. Petersburg, FL today.
We had a great turnout and a wonderful time talking with everyone. It was fun to re-meet some of the FEST members (Florida Etsy Street Team).
This was our first show with the tent, and we were so pleased with the attention it got as well as the usefulness and look of it. It fit wonderfully all around.




I was surprised I had more product than I had table/hanging space so some things didnt get put out for the show. I still had plenty of stuff at the end of it so Etsy listings here it comes!

I loved hearing all of the feedback from everyone. I loved getting to see peoples products and items in person. We had wonderful neighbors - Full Blown Glass - who kept Mr. Red Marionette and I company when we had a breather.




Here is Mr. Red Marionette, I wouldnt be able to do any of this without him. I think I thanked him about every 20 minutes for doing these shows and events with me.

Yes, He is wearing a shirt that says Etsy Widower (From EllebelleOnEtsy) People got a kick out of it.


In this photo you can really see the layout of the whole tent.
The 6' table in the back had the finger puppets, brooches, stuffed animals and painted plaques and the 4x4 table in the front corner had clutches, boo boo bags, pin cushions and large stuffed animals.

I made an overly large owl pillow/stuffed animal for this show as well as a bat. I will try to get the bat listed on etsy this week.



I love how from the inside it looks almost like stained glass. I call it my circus tent.
How fun would it be to have a huge treehouse with a roof like this?


Thank you to everyone for the support and encouragement and kind words to help me make this a success!

We look forward to finding more places to have shows!